On the occasion of International Theater Day, we commemorate the artistic beginnings of Theater in Albania.

The first documented theatrical performance in Albania is “Dasma e Lunxërija”(Lunxerija Wedding) in 1874, written by Koto Hoxhi, which was staged by the students of the normal school “Zografia” in the village of Qestorat in Gjirokastra.

The first creations and the first theatrical performance coincide with the National Renaissance Period. The first Albanian drama with a genuine artistic structure is “Emira” by Frančesk Anton Santori (1814-1894) from Arbër, written in 1885, which was published by De Rada in the newspaper “Fjamuri i Arbri”.

Albanian drama reached higher levels with other authors such as: A. Z. Çajupi, with the comedy “Fourteen-year-old bridegroom” (1902), Gjergj Fishta with the melodrama “Saint Francis of Assisi” (1909), Fan. S. Noli, with the drama “Israelites and Philistines” (1907), Mihal Grameno, with the comedy in three acts “The Curse of the Albanian Language” (1905) and the verse tragedy “The Death of Pyrrhus” (1906), etc.

The first professional theater in Albania is the People’s Theatre, which was inaugurated on May 17, 1945 in Tirana. The People’s Theater and later after the 90s, known as the National Theatre, has a history of sixty-nine years with a wide repertoire of premieres from national and international dramaturgy.

The first performance of the People’s Theater is the comedy “Topazi” by Marcel Pagnol, directed by Sokrat Mio.

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